The Tantalus Tradition
by Pinkgirl
Summary: A high school story with friendship, Love, and Dance Dance Revolution! Couples: mostly Z/D, but also have Freya/Fratley, Ruby/Blank, and Vivi/Eiko. Please R&R!!!!!
1. Prelude A School's Secret

*Hello Everyone! PinkGirl here! This is my first FF9 fic called "The Tantalus Tradition". Everyone (and I mean everyone) is in High School (student or teacher). There is also my other playstation obsession in here, Dance Dance Revolution. I guess you can call this a crossover, but it's mostly FF9. I hope you all like it. And PLEASE REVIEW!*  
  
The Tantalus Tradition By Pinkgirl  
  
Prelude A School's Secret  
  
In the proud school of Alexandria high, there is an organization of students completely separate from the rest the school, called the Tantalus. Officially they don't exist, everyone see them as the life of they school. Every year they meet in secret, to plan their annual show. Once every year, they "take over" a part of the school and put on a magnificent show for they're fellow students. It's impossible to predict when the Tantalus will strike, for they appear a different time each year. Every year, as part of their show, they initiate a freshman into their group, so that the Tantalus tradition can live on in Alexandria High through out every generation.  
  
* Oh and all the of the DDR songs mention in this story can be found at widmayer.tzo.com/pinkgirl/ddr.html . (currently not up yet. Still have some more mp3s to find x.x)* 


	2. Chapter 1 A Freshman's First Day of High...

* Ack, sorry the prelude is pretty short. It was to tell you about what's the story is about so I would have to find a place explain it in the story. Sorry ^_^; *  
  
  
  
Chapter One A Freshman's First Day of High School  
  
One cool September morning, a young boy with a somewhat large pointy hat arrives at his first day of high school. He tries to look up at his new school with his schedule in one hand, his lunchbox in the other, and an empty pack on his back. He moves his luminous yellow eyes to see the top of the school, and reads the name printed on the front of building:  
  
ALEXANDRIA HIGH SCHOOL  
  
He gives a large gulp of nervousness and enters his school. He slowly walks through the crowed hallways overwhelmed, trying to get his bearings of where to go, until he finds himself face down of the floor realizing he had already ran into someone. He peers up to find two strange looking identical twins, wearing the same clothing except one in blue and the other in red, looking angrily down at him.  
  
"How dare you collide into us!" The blue one says.  
  
"Collide into us how you dare!" The red one repeats.  
  
"I'm sorry." The freshman apologizes while getting up from the dirty hallway floor.  
  
"Sorry is not enough!" The blue one tells him.  
  
"Not enough sorry is!" The red one repeats.  
  
The freshman starts to back away, trying to avoid any confrontation, but the twins close on him, trapping him against a wall. "Please, leave me alone!" He cries, as he can feel is dangerous energy forming into his hands.  
  
"You shall be punished"  
  
"Punished you shall be!"  
  
More energy starts to form in his hands, but before it can be released, someone behind them catches the twins' attention. An older student, with a blond hair tied into a small ponytail, and a tail?  
  
"Picking on someone the first day, Hey I think that's a new record!" He says to them.  
  
"Zidane stay out of this!" the blue one commands.  
  
"Yes out of this stay Zidane!" the red one replies. "Or what? You'll run back to Kuja crying?" Zidane replies, "He said he was sorry and that should be good enough for you!"  
  
The twins angrily, walk away. "You haven't seem the last of us little one! And you too Zidane!" They both call back as they disappear into the crowd.  
  
Zidane turns to his new friend. "Are you ok?" He asks him.  
  
"Yeah" He replies "Who were those two?"  
  
"Zorn and Thorn" Zidane tells him, "First day freshmen but they have a senior friend named Kuja."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"What your name kid?"  
  
"Vivi."  
  
"Vivi huh? That's a cool name. You need some help getting to your first class?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Great come with me" Vivi follows Zidane into the packed hallway. After various turns, he soon finds Zidane talking to a girl his age with blue hair, and a horn? "Hey Eiko, I need you to do something for me?"  
  
"What is it Zidane, I need to get to class!" She asks him.  
  
"I need you to help Vivi here find his way around." He tells her.  
  
"Hmm" She walks over to Vivi and pulls his schedule out of his hands and reads it. "Wow, what a coincidence, you have all of my classes!" She exclaims, "Come on, we don't want to be late!" She grabs Vivi and pulls him into the hallway.  
  
Zidane waves good bye to his two freshmen friends, then darts off in search of his first class. He looks at his schedule and reads to find where his first period is. "Mr. Steiner room #305" He reads, "Darn, why do I have to have class with him."  
  
* Like it already? Please R&R! * 


	3. Chapter 2 For Girls, Each Other, and Our...

*How did everyone like the first chapter? The DDR song page is up. It can be reached at widmayer.tzo.com/pinkgirl/ddr.html. I'm still missing a few songs though x.x. However DDR I don't think will be mentioned till the next chapter *  
  
Chapter 2 For Girls, Each Other, and Our Future  
  
In a classroom in the corner of the hallway, a large, middle aged, not so popular history teacher writes various notes on a overhead, while constantly looking up to a Young, dark haired, girl, "Good, she has a seat in the front." He whispers to himself, "I can now watch out for her and the students around her." The first tardy bell rings, and the teacher walk to the door and closes it. As he walks back, they all hear something hit the classroom door. He looks out the window, and sees a familiar face giving him an innocent grin from the floor. The teacher angrily opens the door and lets his tardy student come to class.  
  
The student walks in and heads strait to a desk right next to the young girl. He gives her a smile and she greets him with a wave. The teacher watches with rage building inside of him. He quickly cools off and stands in front of the classroom.  
  
"Welcome, class, to World History. I am Mr. Adelbert Steiner, your social studies teacher for this year." He tells him. " I am also one of Miss Garnet's body guards, but I am restricted under school policy from giving her any special treatment." The girl covers her face with embarrassment. The student next to her smiles in reassurance, and she is able to smile back. Mr. Steiner turns on the overhead projector. "Ah Hem. These are the rules for my class. Today you will copy these down on a separate sheet of paper and get it signed by or parents. This is due tomorrow for a homework grade." The entire class moans. Steiner sits down at his desk as he watches the students scribble his long list of guidelines. Suddenly he feels a paper airplane hitting him on the head. He looks over to only see all of the teenagers are busy working. He gives a soft growl and continues with his work.  
  
The bell finally rings for the next class, and the students rush out as fast as they can. Before the young girl leaves, she is stopped by her teacher/bodyguard. "Miss Garnet, May I escort you to your next class?" He asks her.  
  
"No I'll be fine Steiner." She tells him, "You don't want to be late for your next class too."  
  
"Yes of course miss" He replies.  
  
The girl walks into the hallway and meets up with her tardy friend. "I can't believe you were late for your first class on the first day of school Zidane Tribal!" She scolds him.  
  
"Hey I had a good reason Dagger!" He tells her, "The two clowns were picking on some helpless freshman this morning."  
  
"Oh ok." She replies, "As long as you're not late again ok?"  
  
"I wont" He answers.  
  
The two friends walk down the crowed hallways of their school. They soon find a familiar couple holding hands across them, strolling down the hallway. "Freya and Frately have become very close." Dagger comments quietly.  
  
"Of course they have," Zidane tells her, "They're best friends like you and I." They soon arrive at Dagger's next class. They both wave good- bye and Zidane sprints to the main gym. He see his two other friends sitting on the gym floor.  
  
"Blank! Cinna!" He calls out to them as he takes a sit next to them. "How has the first day been for yah both?"  
  
"Great!" Cinna tells him, "We both have Mr. Baku for first period!"  
  
"Lucky" Zidane replies, "I got stuck with Steiner"  
  
"Ooh not good." Blank comments, "Was Dagger was there too?"  
  
"Yep"  
  
"Not good"  
  
"I was also late"  
  
"Ouch"  
  
As the three friends chat, two familiar faces enter the gym. "It's ok Vivi, No one got hurt." The young girl assures the boy.  
  
"I didn't know inflammable also meant flammable."Vivi tells her.  
  
"Hey guys over here!" Zidane calls out to them. The two freshmen run over to the three friends.  
  
"You have gym too?" Vivi asks.  
  
"Don't tell me, you three failed gym last year!" The girl says to them.  
  
"Come on Eiko" Zidane replies. "What do you expect from having the drill sergeant as your gym teacher." The two freshmen sit down next to their sophomore friends and the tardy bell rings.  
  
"She is pretty hot though." Cinna comments.  
  
"Yeah, makes it worth while" Blank replies.  
  
Suddenly the class shushes as their teacher walks out into the gym. She is a tall, well figured woman, with light brown hair that largely curled at the ends. She wears a grayish pair of exercise shorts and a white T-shirt, and a metal eye patch?  
  
"Welcome to PE. Class" She starts to explain, "I am your coach for this year, Beatrix. You may call me coach, or coach Beatrix. I have only three rules for this class:  
  
You must give me your best in the gym and in heath class, or you fail. Only those who are not failing may have water and restroom breaks. If you are tardy, don't dress out, or I find you drooling at me, you will do 50 laps around the gym or 20 around the track.  
  
"I suggest that you try not to fail and have to take this class over. AND FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOW REPEATING THIS CLASS, I ADVISE YOU NOT FAIL AGAIN!" The three friends sit silently still. "So since you aren't dressed out today, I guess you all can talk among yourselves until the period is over, but be dressed out tomorrow."  
  
The students begin to chatter with each other. "What's dressing out?" Vivi asks.  
  
"Ah to be freshman again" Blank comments.  
  
"Remember the first day of our freshman year." Cinna says to his friends.  
  
"Yeah." They three sophomores flash back to their first day of high school. They are standing in front of the school building in a small circle, with each of them holding their hands in the center.  
  
"For Girls,"  
  
"Each other,"  
  
"And our future." 


	4. Chapter 3 It's more than just a video ga...

*Ok, finally we're going to get into DDR, and to what the story's about. I hope you like it ^_^ *  
  
Chapter 3 It's more than just a Video Game It's exercise for Geeks!  
  
About two weeks has passed since the first day of the new school year. Dagger wanders around the hallways one afternoon, in search of her best friend. She spots him heading towards the auditorium and dashes to catch up with him. "Zidane!" She calls out. Zidane looks over and sees her running towards his direction. "Where are you going?" She asks him while somewhat recovering her breath.  
  
"Um. Drama club" He answers, trying to have a decent excuse for where he is heading.  
  
"Drama club?" She replies curiously, "I didn't hear anything about Drama club."  
  
"Um. Well." he begins to studder.  
  
"Zidane," She trustworthily tells him, "What ever it is you can tell me."  
  
"You're right." He pulls her off into a secluded corner. "Um, you have to promise you won't tell anyone Ok?"  
  
"I won't," She assures him.  
  
"Well.Today."He starts to explain, ".is the first meeting of the Tantalus group."  
  
"What!" She exclaims in astonishment, "You're a Tantalus!"  
  
"Shhhh. You can't tell anyone ok?" He tells her, trying to keep his identity safe.  
  
"I promise."  
  
"Alright, I'll see you later then."  
  
"Ok bye."  
  
"Bye." He waves good-bye to his best friend and resumes his route. When he finally arrives at the auditorium, he spots only one of the members sitting among a cluster of chairs on the dark stage.  
  
"Hey Marcus." He greets while running in between the rows of auditorium seats. "Am I actually early for once?"  
  
"Nah" Marcus answers back. "Ruby just had to take care of something."  
  
Then, the two arrivals see the other members of the their group entering the auditorium. "That is thah last time I'm getting yah two out of trouble!" They hear a feminine voice yell.  
  
"Come on Ruby" They also hear Cinna's voice say. "It wasn't that bad."  
  
"YAH BOTH SNEACKED INTO THE GIRL'S BATHROOM!!!!" She yells at them, "YER LUCKY I WAS ABLE TO CONVINCE THE PRINCIPAL YAH WERE LOOKING FOR ME!!!!!"  
  
"Hey Ruby!" Zidane greets, "How it going?"  
  
"Oh just fine hun." She sweetly replies, "Until this afternoon." Blank and Cinna stand in fearful silence.  
  
"Alright, now that everyone's here, lets get started." Marcus says. The students climb up upon the stage and take seats around their leader. "So when you guys want the show this year?" Marcus asks them.  
  
"I don't want to football again." Ruby tells them.  
  
"Of course not." Marcus tells her, "We did that last year."  
  
"What about some at some sort of dance?" Zidane suggests to the group.  
  
"Then we can't to prom because there won't be any freshmen." Blank comments to his friend's suggestion.  
  
"Valentine's Day Dance!" Ruby exclaims.  
  
"Nah, too mushy." Cinna replies, only to feel a smack on his shoulder. "Oww!!" He cries in exaggerated pain.  
  
"Perhaps Homecoming?" Marcus suggests.  
  
"But that's too soon." Blank explains, "We won't have enough time to weed out the freshies."  
  
"I already a got a couple of candidates." Zidane tells them.  
  
"Already!!"  
  
"Yeah this one girl named Eiko Carol, and."  
  
"Isn't she Dagger's friend?" Marcus asks.  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"She's sweet" Ruby comments, "We should pick her!"  
  
"And this little black mage named Vivi." Zidane continues.  
  
"You mean that kid that trips over everyone?" Cinna asks.  
  
"Yeah" Zidane replies.  
  
"I dunno."Blank says.  
  
"Just as a possibility."  
  
"Alright, as a possibility." Marcus agrees. "Ok, now that we got our candidates, what about our show?"  
  
"Hmmm.."The three sophomores give evil grins to the two older members.  
  
"No way," Marcus angrily replies to them. "We're not doing that!"  
  
"Come on, it's perfect!" Zidane tells him.  
  
"Its music wouldn't be bad for the show." Blank comments.  
  
"And you play it too!" Cinna points out also to their older friend.  
  
"Yeah but I'm not DDR obsessed like the three of you are!" Marcus exclaims to them.  
  
"What's DDR?" Ruby asks the group.  
  
"Dance Dance Revolution." Marcus answers, "A game these maniacs play all the time at the arcade."  
  
"Hey, It's more than just a video game," Zidane tells him, "It's exercise for geeks!"  
  
"Whatever"  
  
"Well Aye thinks it's a great idea." Ruby says.  
  
"Fine," Marcus finally agrees.  
  
"Yeah!!" The three sophomores exclaim, almost jumping in the air.  
  
  
  
* Woah, this gotta be the longest chapter I've ever written. Of course there's a lot of dialog in this chapter. What do you think? Did I seem too overly obsessed with DDR? (Personally I think that's going to happen in the next chapter) Please Review! * 


	5. Chapter 4 Perhaps I'll ask Dagger to the...

*Hello Everyone! Yes I am alive! I've just been distracted by other things (love Hina, animal crossing, sickness, make up work, etc.) But I'm back! And we're actually going to get into some serious DDR this chapter. Yay! Finally! And Please Review! *  
  
Chapter 4 Perhaps I'll ask Dagger to the dance  
  
"Fratley, how does this dress look?"  
  
"Just Lovely. Why don't you get that one Freya?"  
  
"I dunno, I kinda like this one too." One Saturday afternoon, the most known couple of Alexandria High prepare for the upcoming Homecoming dance, which was only in a few weeks. "Which one do you think I should get?" Freya asks her long time boyfriend.  
  
He takes the simple scarlet red dress, with an orange and yellow sash tied around the waist, and holds it up to her. "This one is perfect." He tells her in an affectionate tone. Freya's face goes red. "Ok." She shyly replies.  
  
After Fratley pays for his girlfriend's new dress, the two lovebirds stroll casually through the mall, holding hands, soon to be greeted by two of their friends.  
  
"Freya! Fratley!" They hear behind them, the two turn around to see Dagger and her best friend Eiko running towards them.  
  
"Why hello you two." Freya greets in a mature voice.  
  
"Have you two seen Zidane?" Dagger asks them.  
  
"Yeah and Vivi too?" Eiko also asks.  
  
Fratley, who always remained silent, didn't seem to respond. "Why I think we saw them at the arcade." Freya informs them, "Zidane is teaching Vivi how to play that Dance Dance Revolution game."  
  
"Ok, thanks!" The two girls dart off.  
  
****  
  
"Ok Vivi, when the little left arrow matches arrow on the top of the screen, you need to press the left arrow button on the pad."  
  
".. Ok" Meanwhile at the arcade, Zidane, with also the rest of the Tantalus gang, attempts to teach their new freshman friend how to play their favorite video game. "The trick is to follow the beat." He tips his little buddy. Soon Vivi seems to be able to follow the rhythm of the steps.  
  
"Wow Vivi! You're like a natural!" Cinna exclaims to Vivi's newly known talent.  
  
"Yeah," Blank replies, "He's doing better than you ever did as a beginner Cinna"  
  
"So Blank hun, what should I wear to the dance?" Ruby asks.  
  
"That nice blue ensemble would be great." Blank tells her.  
  
"What?! We can still ask people to the dance!?" Zidane eccentrically responds. Vivi turns around in wonder of what his new friends are talking about.  
  
"Of course." Marcus explains, "Why did you think we couldn't?" He winks to Zidane, trying to keep the little freshman clueless of their plans.  
  
"Why?" Cinna wonders "Do you want to ask Dagger to the dance?" Cinna start to make teasing kissing faces. All red, Zidane turns around and continues with his dancing.  
  
"I don't know! I never thought about it." He tells his friends. "But it doesn't sound like a bad idea. I mean we are good friends and all.."  
  
"Perhaps I'll ask Dagger to the dance." A voice interrupts. The group turns to the entrance of the arcade to see their most despised senior. A tall young man wearing a long dark tan trench coat over tan khakis and a long sleeved purple shirt. He had long white hair that dropped to his shoulder and tied in the back, with aqua eyes looking into Zidane's.  
  
"No offence Kuja," Zidane replies smoothly, "But I don't think Dagger will say yes."  
  
"How do you know that?" Kuja smirks back, attempting to get the better of the sophomore. Zidane gives a soft growl but it quickly turns into a confident smile.  
  
"Alright then, what about this," The little monkey boy proposes, "If you can beat me in a game of DDR, then you get to take Dagger to the dance." The group jumped in surprise to Zidane's challenge. Even though he was the best among them, they also known Kuja to sometimes play their favorite game. "A three stage match, random songs, and most total points win. Deal?"  
  
"Deal." Kuja shakes Zidane's hand with an evil grin planted on his face. He strolls over to the second player pad, nearly pushing Vivi off. He takes of his coat, revealing his silver and black striped tail. (Author: Ok I know Kuja has a tail and all, but I don't actually know if it looks like that or not. That's just what I read off of somewhere. If anyone knows different please tell me!)  
  
"And no tails too." Zidane added to their agreement, wrapping his tail around his waist. Angrily, Kuja does the same.  
  
They each put in their money in to the machine, and the game starts up. In the song selection Zidane goes over to the random. The first song pops up.  
  
"Drop the Bomb. Zidane knows this one." Blank comments.  
  
"Yeah but Kuja probably knows it too." Marcus replies.  
  
The song starts up and their duel begins.  
  
'Sorry but could I have the music louder?  
  
Yeah drop the bomb! Just drop the bomb!  
  
Getting sick and tired of the fossil-like system, now or never it's the time to resist 'em, it's easy to blast them all away, pull a trigger push a button say ADIOS today, don't get me wrong I'm a pacifist, the mind can do more than the fist.'  
  
As they continue with the song, Zidane combo counter starts to go up. He glances over to Kuja's screen to see he also has a combo going, but soon loses it. The rest of the gang stands there in awe as these two combatants give all they got.  
  
'So drop the bomb! Yeah drop the bomb! Just drop the bomb! Let me see that bomb!  
  
That bomb! That bomb! That bomb!'  
  
The song finishes and the two player's scores are counted. "Hey Zidane got about a million more than Kuja!" Cinna exclaims. The second song is then selected.  
  
"Dynamite Rave? Great this one's going to be interesting." Blank says to his friends.  
  
"Are you sure Zidane can handle it?" Vivi asks him.  
  
"Sure, he's done it lots of times."  
  
The song starts up and Zidane and Kuja begin the second stage.  
  
'1, 2, 3, 4 Dynamite Rave! Come on everybody! (go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go) And get on the floor, yeah'  
  
Soon Zidane is able to get a higher combo than Kuja, but then he is distracted by a familiar voice.  
  
"Hi everyone!" He hears the voice say. He looks over and sees that Dagger and Eiko has joined their little group. He begins to smile as he see that beautiful smile of hers, her waving to him ever so sweetly.  
  
"ZIDANE YOU IDIOT PAY ATTENTION!!!!!" Blank yells at him.  
  
Zidane turn around to see his dance meter almost empty. "AGG!" He exclaims, trying to make up for his distraction. But it is already the to the end of the song. The scores are tallied, and Kuja was able to pull ahead.  
  
He looks over to his opponent to see nothing but a smirk on his face. Then the next song is chosen. 'Dive?' he thinks to himself 'Ok, have to do well on this song. I can't loose Dagger to this creep.' The song starts up and the final stage begins.  
  
'sekai o tomete... Dive'  
  
Zidane gets a good start, pressing each button perfectly, with only one thought in his mind, Dagger. He never looks back to her, keeping focused on his goal. Kuja glances over to see the little monkey boy working on a perfect combo, while he keeps on breaking his.  
  
'Keep on lovin'. Can't stop my heart mou watashi ga tomaranai kono ai ni tobikonde yuku Dive to the night!'  
  
The song finishes, Zidane falls over in exhaustion as he presses the last step, completing his combo. The scores are tallied, and Zidane beat Kuja by a million points. His friends help him off the pad, as he sees Kuja leave, not even glancing at Dagger, then blacks out.  
  
****  
  
"Zidane?" Later Zidane is able to wake up, seeing first that sweet face peering down at him.  
  
"Uhgg."He moans.  
  
"Are you alright?" She asks him in concern.  
  
He sits up on what appears to be a bench outside of the mall, with Dagger sitting next to him. "Yeah" He assures her. "I'll be fine."  
  
"Why won't he ask her yet!" Ruby exclaims from behind the bush nearby.  
  
"Shhhhh" The three boy silences her, "They're going to hear us."  
  
"Spying, how immature" Eiko comments about the upperclassmen's behavior.  
  
"Yeah"Vivi agrees.  
  
"Vivi, you know that the homecoming dance is coming up soon right?" Eiko playfully asks him.  
  
"uh yeah" the little black mage replies. "actually, I was wondering.."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Would you like to go to the homecoming dance with me?"  
  
"Why Vivi I thought you'll never ask." Eiko gives Vivi a big hug, almost knocking him over.  
  
*Wow! Ok THIS is probably the longest chapter I've ever written. I hope everyone likes to the selections of songs I used. I could have used different harder ones, like Paranoia or Trip Machine, but I thought I just use ones that I actually can play so can visualize them actually dancing to them. Any ways they could be doing trick or Maniac for all I know. Like how I also put some of the lyrics of the songs they play to in it? (Sorry for having one song in Japanese but that's what that song is in.) If you're not familiar with any of these songs, you can still go to widmayer.tzo.com/pinkgirl/ddr.html to listen to them.  
  
And, I would also like to explain some of things about the game, like combos, that have been mention. If you get Perfects or Greats repeatedly, you start to get a combo. On the screen, it shows how many steps you got in that combo as you're playing. You break combos when you get some thing lower than a Perfect or a Great, like maybe a Almost or a Miss. Then you have to start up again with another combo. The higher the combos you can make, the more points you get. To get a perfect combo, of course, is to get a perfect or a great on every single step in that entire song, which is actually kinda hard to do.  
  
Well see you later with the next chapter. Sorry for not updating for a while (and such a long endnote too ^_^;)* 


End file.
